Food and beverage industry center of excellence pitched for Milwaukee's near west side

A nine-story former hospital and Milwaukee County office building could be converted into a food and beverage industry center of excellence on Milwaukee's near west side.(Photo: Quorum Architects Inc.)

FaB Wisconsin has tentative commitments from prospective tenants for around 25,000 square feet of the 100,000 square feet at the nine-story building, she said.

The group probably needs to get around 50,000 square feet committed through signed letters of intent to lease that space in order for Wiegand to obtain financing for the project, Jurewicz said.

Food and Beverage Square would be part of the city's new North 27th Street Corridor Strategy, which the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee approved Tuesday. That strategy focuses on redeveloping N. 27th St. between W. Highland Blvd. and W. St. Paul Ave.

The FaB center would house offices and processing space for food and beverage makers; a shared laboratory; other firms and organizations related to the food industry, including the company that produces the Wisconsin Foodie TV show; a street-level food industry public gallery, including a demonstration kitchen, and a rooftop farm.

The trade group began focusing on the near west side after a 2015 effort to create a center in Walker's Point fell through.

It would be just north of one of Wiegand's other projects: the planned conversion of the former Wisconsin Avenue School, 2708 W. Wisconsin Ave., into the 23-suite extended-stay Ambassador Suites hotel.